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MANHATTAN (CN) — Less than a week after New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on criminal charges including bribery and corruption, he fired back at federal prosecutors on Tuesday over allowing leaks of non-public investigative material before the historic charges were unsealed.
“For nearly a year, the government has leaked grand jury material and other sensitive information to the media to aggrandize itself, further its investigation, and unfairly prejudice the defendant, Mayor Eric Adams,” attorneys for the first-term Democratic mayor wrote in a motion for sanctions to address the purported “persistent” disclosures of grand jury testimony and other confidential information.
“The net effect of the government’s leaks was that, by the time that charges against Mayor Adams were unsealed on September 26, 2024, most of the details of the indictment and the evidence underpinning the government’s case (weak as it is) had already been widely reported in the national and local press,” they continued.
Adams’ lawyers said the day before the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed the indictment — “even before the mayor’s counsel was notified of the indictment” — the New York Times reported that had he been indicted in a federal corruption investigation, citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”
In the filing, Adams cites 11 articles by New York Times senior corruption reporter William Rashbaum detailing the investigation, according to unidentified sources “familiar with aspects of the probe,” “familiar with the federal investigation,” or “with knowledge of the matter.”
Rashbaum, a former police bureau chief for New York Newsday, has worked for the New York Times since 1999.
The New York Times defended the credibility of the paper’s reporting on the Adams probe.
“We conducted tireless and original reporting to uncover important new revelations about the allegations made against the mayor and his associates, and we worked exhaustively to confirm the veracity of all the information we received,” a New York Times spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “As the filed motion documents, The Times’ groundbreaking reporting on this case has been proven accurate at every turn.”
When U.S. Attorney Damian Williams formally announced the charges, Adams became the first sitting mayor in New York City history to be indicted.
The mayor is requesting that U.S. District Judge Dale Ho hold an evidentiary hearing
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday morning declined to comment on the motion.
Adams is accused in the indictment of selling his political influence to foreign nationals, including Turkish government officials and businessmen, in exchange for more than $100,000 in undisclosed luxury travel perks, including a high-end hotel stay, free airline flights and upgrades arranged by a diplomat from Turkey,
Prosecutors say the corruption began a decade ago when he served as the Brooklyn borough president — a post that holds no authority over passing legislation or enforcing laws — and continued through his mayoral administration.
Prosecutors also accuse Adams of soliciting and illegal campaign donations from so-called “straw donors,” which they say contributed to Adams unlocking $10 million in public campaign funds from a municipal program administered by the New York City Campaign Finance Board that matches small-dollar contributions from city residents.
In response to the accusations of quid pro quo corruption, Adams has repeatedly stood firm that he will not resign. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last week.
Adams’ defense team — which now includes celebrity attorney Alex Spiro; William Burck, a former prosecutor with the Southern District of New York who serves on the board of media giant Fox Corp.; and former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas John Bash, a member of The Federalist Society — included letters to federal prosecutors expressing concern that leaks to the Times had been occurring since as early as November 2023, when FBI agents first searched the Brooklyn home of the lead fundraiser for his 2021 mayoral campaign, Briana Suggs.
“Unfortunately, there can be no question that the leaks have already influenced next year’s mayoral election," attorney Brendan McGuire wrote in a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in June 2024. “If they continue, they have the potential to fundamentally compromise the mayor’s reelection candidacy.”
Adams, 64, is up for reelection next year.
If convicted on all five counts, Adams faces a maximum of 45 years in prison.
He released a prerecorded video message before the indictment had been unsealed, vowing to stay in office and decrying any charges against him as “entirely false” and “based on lies.”
“I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit,” Adams said Wednesday. “If I’m charged, I know I’m innocent.”
The mayor’s attorneys filed a motion Monday saying that the discounted flights to international destinations, seat upgrades, complimentary meals and free hotel rooms he received were not bribes under federal law.
“Congressmen get upgrades. They get corner suites. They get better tables at restaurants. They get free appetizers. They have their iced tea filled up,” Spiro said at a news conference Monday morning. “Courtesies to politicians are not federal crimes.”
On Tuesday morning, Adams held his first weekly news conference since he was indicted.
“I’m hopeful, because I did nothing wrong,” he told reporters. “Let’s let the legal process take its course.”
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